


Truth in Evidence

by Kayryn



Series: Berena Appreciation Week 2018 [3]
Category: Holby City
Genre: Alternate Universe, BAW - Berena Appreciation Week 2018, F/F, Fanart, Manip, Plot Bunnies - Freeform, fic idea that will likely never be fully written
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 10:50:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15705732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayryn/pseuds/Kayryn
Summary: Manip & a plot (not a full fledged story). AU.Young women are dying under suspicious circumstances all over Holby and Medical Examiner Serena Campbell wants to know why. When recently transferred DCI Wolfe is assigned to the case, can the two finally find out what happened to the women, and if there’s a killer, can they catch them?





	Truth in Evidence

**Author's Note:**

> Something I wrote quite some time ago, but decided to make a manip for during the BAW 2018.
> 
> Regarding the manip, as always, do not repost the it, use it in edits, send to the cast etc. If you wish to use my manips for anything other than personal wallpapers or icons, please contact me first.

 

* * *

  
  
Serena Campbell is a medical examiner. She lives in Holby and runs a private morgue with her colleague, Raf di Lucca. She's well respected in her field and is often asked to lend a hand in difficult cases, some of those cases taking her to other cities and, on occasion, to other countries. Which is why it's frustrating to her that DCI Self won't hear her concerns about the young women dying around the city. The cause of death in each case remains undetermined. Serena refuses to write them off as suicides or accidental deaths because she has her suspicions about them being homicides. It's nothing she can prove definitely, she has no evidence, no clues, other than the potential victims all being young women (but differing in looks, professions, backgrounds). Despite the police force refusing to admit that the deaths are linked, it's always Self who gets handed the cases.    
  
Then she gets another call one early morning. A man walking his dog has found a body of another young woman. Serena gets the coffee started; then showers quickly before leaving a note to her nephew for when he wakes up. She then pour her coffee into a traveling mug and leaves, already dreading another confrontation with DCI Self.    
  
She arrives at the park where the body has been found and starts to get ready by putting on the coveralls she has stocked at the back of her car. Then, she's met by one of the younger police officers she's seen on many crime scenes, DC Copeland, and nods a greeting. The young man briefs her on what they know so far.    
  
As he starts to show her the way to the body, Serena mutters something about Self probably already having written this off as an accident as well. Copeland turns to Serena, smiling mischievously.    
  
"You haven't heard?"   
  
"Heard what?"   
  
"Self is gone, got reassigned to another case. We have a new DCI now."   
  
"Wonderful," Serena says, her voice dripping with sarcasm. As difficult as Self had been, he'd been the devil she'd known. Now she faces the task of not only finding out what had killed this woman, but also once again having to prove her worth to yet another DCI. For a moment Serena wonders if she's being too harsh; maybe this time she won't have to fight so hard. Maybe this time it'll be someone who actually listens to her concerns and will admit the deaths are suspicious and linked. She rolls her eyes, not bloody likely. As much progress as there has been, the police force is still very much a boy’s club.

Then DC Copeland stops next to a small bridge crossing a stream and, still smiling, introduces Serena to DCI Bernie Wolfe. 

\---   
  
DCI Berenice (Bernie, please) Wolfe is new to Murder Investigation Team, recently transferred from SCD9. She’s studying the body of the young woman from two meters away; knows better than to go and approach the body before the medical examiner has done their job. Not going closer to the body doesn’t stop her from mentally cataloguing everything she sees, though. This is her first case in MIT and she feels she has a lot to prove. She’d assumed the higher ranks would keep her on the sidelines, easing her in slowly and seeing what she’s made of. But she’d gotten the call half an hour ago and here she is. Already DC Copeland has given her the history of cases somewhat similar to this one, hinting that the ME had her suspicions but that Self had been ignoring those. It seems there’s nothing concrete they can prove, but it’s piqued Bernie’s interest. 

Bernie hears DC Copeland behind her and she turns. And stops to stare (rather rudely, she realizes a moment later) at the woman next to him. Damn. Bernie barely catches the ME’s name as Copeland introduces her to Bernie. Finally a quirk of the woman’s eyebrow brings Bernie back to the moment and to the case at hand.

\----

The new case is like so many others Serena has seen. Young woman, drowned, but in the strangest of places (a small pond in a park) where she supposedly had no reason to be in. Serena discovers fresh bruises on the woman’s body but they’re only indicative, not conclusive. 

It’s lunch time when Bernie comes to the morgue to witness the autopsy. She’s a bit early when she knocks on Serena’s door and, after being bid to do so, enters. Serena looks up and can’t help but smile at the two coffee cups and the brown paper bag Wolfe is carrying.  

“Fish and chips?” is the offer she gets and gladly accepts. 

Over lunch they first talk about their initial observations of the site and body, and then Bernie begins to prod a little more into the past cases. Serena, after a slight hesitation, digs up her notes and they go the cases through superficially. (Serena pointing out some of the more obvious reasons why she suspects foul play.)

\---

Later that day the cause of death is confirmed as drowning, and while it does seem accidental, it also seems off. So, Bernie and Serena go to Serena’s house after work and start working on the earlier cases. They go through old reports and files, old evidence on the cases Serena's kept a (very secret, very personal) list of. 

\---

Over the course of several months, the killings get closer together, but also sloppier. There’s finally a case where it’s clear that the woman was killed (strangled, instead of suicide by hanging), and both Bernie and Serena become obsessed with the case. Against usual protocols, Bernie keeps Serena informed throughout the investigation as much as she can, and together they piece together information, evidence, medical facts. 

Of course, over these months Serena and Bernie grow closer together. Though in different professions, their lives mirror each other’s. And the undercurrent of attraction, well, that’s hard to ignore. It doesn’t take long for their long evenings after long working days to end in a nightcap and Bernie sleeping in Serena’s guest bedroom. At first it happens only now and again, but it doesn’t take long for it to become a regular thing. 

Serena’s nephew, Jason, is surprisingly accepting of Bernie. Though that might have as much to do with him being able to ask any number of questions about crime cases as it does with him actually liking Bernie. He also loves to quiz Bernie about crime history facts, something that Bernie doesn’t seem to mind either, even if her knowledge is deemed unsatisfactory by Jason. Serena can’t quite bring herself to hide how much it means to her that Bernie gets along with Jason so well. Even if she and Bernie are just friends (and Serena is trying not to get her hopes up too much of them becoming more), it’s important that two of the three most important people in her life get along splendidly.   

Another few weeks later they get a call about a young woman having been attacked by the killer but this time the woman has survived. The woman, Morven, proves to be invaluable source of information and with her help Bernie’s team gets that much closer to catching the killer. Now they have DNA evidence and a description, vague though it is. But it’s a lot more than what they’ve had so far.

They talk to Morven together, asking her questions but also trying to help her deal with the attack. They leave her a number of a trauma psychologist as well as their own numbers and assurances that she can call them at any time. 

After their talk with Morven, Serena and Bernie decide to call it a day and, as per usual these days, they go to Serena’s where they have tea with Jason. He excuses himself to watch a documentary about the history of forensic science as soon as he’s done. He extends an invitation to Serena and Bernie to watch it with him, but the women kindly remind him that they’ve already seen that particular documentary with him. Twice. 

While Jason is enjoying another rewatch, Bernie and Serena talk about Morven’s attack. Bernie had been to the site of the attack and where Morven had been found, but something about it bothers her. She just can’t put a finger on it. Serena tries to help Bernie figure it out but it’s no use and, in the end, it’s decided that they need to do what they’ve done throughout the case so far: look at the evidence together. There’s just something about brainstorming together that makes them connect these dots faster. 

They almost leave it to the next day but there’s a thrum of excitement, born from getting closer to catching whoever is behind these killings, that they can’t ignore. So, once Serena has made sure Jason’s all right for the evening, she and Bernie drive to where Morven was found. 

They’re at the scene and talking through Morven’s attack, what they know happened and what’s purely guesswork at this stage. They go over some of the old cases and compare them and notice a similarity or two. 

Satisfied with what they’ve got for now, they’re about to leave when Serena hears someone. They stop and listen, but hear nothing. Serena’s about to say it was probably nothing when Bernie puts a hand on Serena’s arm and calls out for whomever is out there to reveal themselves, identifies herself as the police. There’s nothing at first but then someone’s running and Bernie chases after them. Serena chases after Bernie but then stops to take out her phone and call 999. She’s in the middle of explaining the situation to the dispatcher when she hears Bernie calling out.

“Serena, look out!”

Turning towards Bernie Serena sees the dark shape just in time to step aside but not in time to avoid him completely. He pushes her down before running off. 

Bernie is there beside Serena in a second, dropping on her knees to make sure she’s okay. Serena tries to tell Bernie to go after the suspect but Bernie says they’ve already disappeared and it’s too dark for her to have any realistic hope of catching them. 

It takes another few assurances from Serena before Bernie believes she’s really okay and not injured. At most, Serena’s hands will have some scrapes from hitting the ground so hard, maybe some bruises, but nothing serious.

They wait for the on-duty officers to arrive, and when they do, Bernie gives them directions of what to look for (both on the streets tonight and for someone to go over CCTV from the streets nearby). Then, Bernie drives Serena back home. 

It’s not until they’re at Serena’s door that Serena starts to show signs of being shaken by the experience. It isn’t so much what happened, but the knowledge that it was most likely the killer who came so close to her. Who knocked her down. Someone who has no qualms about ending the lives of so many young women and he was right there. 

Bernie watches Serena and asks if she’d like her to come in for a while. It’s late but perhaps a little company before Serena goes to bed. Serena nods in acceptance and they go inside. 

Tea is usually the cure-all but tonight it doesn’t seem to be enough. Curled up on the opposite ends of the sofa, they’re both worried that the killer will strike again soon as he’s now left one of his victims alive. Bernie calls one of her people to make sure Morven’s security detail is in place and everything is as it should be.

The silence stretches as both women are lost to their own thoughts. But eventually,

“Bernie? Cou- would you hold me?”

Bernie pulls Serena close to her and hugs her tightly. Slowly Serena starts to relax, leans against Bernie more heavily, molding her body against Bernie’s. It’s pure torture to Bernie but there’s nowhere else she’d rather be.

“Would you like me to stay?” Bernie asks after a while, when she feels Serena’s beginning to nod off.

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Any time.”

They go upstairs and say goodnight before entering their respective rooms. Bernie lies in bed, one of Serena’s old t-shirts once again acting as her pajamas. Bernie can’t sleep though. She keeps playing the scene over and over in her head. What-if scenarios that don’t end as fortunately as it did. Scenarios where Bernie is too far away and the killer knows it, takes the few seconds to plunge a knife into Serena before fleeing, Serena in Bernie’s arms, growing colder. Scenarios where Serena is fine and Bernie runs after the killer, catching them, coming back to Serena to see her bloodied and bruised. Scenarios where Bernie runs after the killer, not realizing Serena’s been hurt more severely that she lead on, and comes back to her friend lying dead on the ground.

The scenes change with rapid succession, and no matter what Bernie does, Serena keeps getting hurt.

Bernie wakes up with a shout, drenched in sweat, her heart beating wildly. The door to the guest room opens and Serena walks straight over to Bernie’s side. After assuring each other that they’re both okay, Serena shoos Bernie into her own bathroom and tells her to take a shower. Bernie does as she’s told. A few minutes later Bernie exits the bathroom, wearing another one of Serena’s t-shirt. Serena herself is sitting on her bed, a soft, yet somewhat sad smile on her face. 

When Serena asks Bernie to stay with her, Bernie doesn’t hesitate for a moment.

\---

It takes another body before they finally catch the killer. This time his rage at not having succeeded the last time had resulted in him making several mistakes and with a few clues from CCTV (the bus he used telling them which part of the city he was coming from) and another recollected detail from Morven, they finally had him. 

All throughout the months Serena, Raf, and Bernie have been tying the other cases together and now that the killer is caught, they finally have the last few details they need to hopefully charge him with, if not all of the murders, at least most of them. 

When the killer is brought to the police station, it’s up to Bernie and her team to make him crack. Serena watches from another room as Bernie interrogates the man. It takes some quite incredible psychological tricks on Bernie’s part but finally the man succumbs to his own weakness: his pride. Not being able to handle Bernie’s taunts about his lack of execution, how she would’ve done things more carefully, made sure she wasn’t caught, the killer starts to brag about victims they haven’t even mentioned yet. 

In the other room Serena smiles brightly.

\---

They all celebrate the closing of the case, of justice (however meager) being done. After the party Serena invites Bernie over again, for a more private celebration of their own. It’s an invitation Bernie has no intention of turning down.

  
  


The end

  
  



End file.
